The Outlaw - pt2

In the second part of our interview with Chris Law, the UBS Challenge winner gives his views on the forthcoming AC

madfor sailing's interview with Chris Law continued from part 1 yesterday...

madfor sailing : So who's your favourite to win the Louis Vuitton Challenge series?

Chris Law: If I was betting now, Prada v Alinghi with Prada to win. They've got the longest running campaign, they're the most meticulous, they've spent the most money, they've got the most successful designer in modern America's Cup history. And Doug Petersen this time has got what he wanted. He's got Ian Howlett, who's probably best the tank testing designer having designed Lionheart, Victory and White Crusader.

They have a very strong management structure in Laurent Esquier who has done all the challenges since 1980. Francesco [de Angelis] I think did a very good job last time if you consider that he beat Cayard - and whatever anybody said, Cayard did have the money and they had millons of dollars left over at the end and they had two very good boats, he was a very good match racer and he'd won the Louis Vuitton Cup twice. And he got beaten by Francesco.

If you look at Torben [Grael], he walked out of that programme and immediately won a Star bronze medal. Look at Gavin [Brady] he joined them and then immediately came second in the Star Worlds by a point and I think I'm right in saying he's had 4-5 seconds on the circuit (Swedish Match Tour). They have the makings of a very strong afterguard. And if you look at Rod (Davis), he started on the bow in Newport in 1980 and has slowly worked his way back. He is probably the best America's Cup coach/B boat driver/America's Cup enthusiast and he himself has won a gold and silver. They had the pick of the designers and they're aren't short of money.

Russell - he owns the Cup - he won it and he defended it, but we'll wait and see. I also think that One World will be strong. But there's a question mark still over their legality.

mfs: Do you think there will be any surprises this time round?

CL: I think the conditions are such that no one can go down one extreme because that bay [the Hauraki Gulf] is at least two thirds landlocked and the wind comes from any direction so you can't be a light air or heavy air specialist. All the boats will be long and narrow. All the boats will be structurally light in the hull with all the weight in bulb. The refinement will be the rigs. And it will be the best match racing event ever.

The umpires will be under enormous pressure to make the right calls. I like the structure, where they have the repetage coming through. We did it like that the other day in Ravenna and that's very good because it means that guys who don't shine early on in fact can develop. If you look at Stars & Stripes against KZ7 in Fremantle, KZ7 came out of the box and won 20 races in a row while Stars & Stripes built and built and built. If you look at NZL32 in San Diego, Russell reckons he improved his time by 7 minutes round the track just while he was there. So it's a question of how you develop - how the fruit ripens. You refine and you match according to your opponent.

mfs: What will make the difference this time round?

CL: You look at someone like Peter Holmberg, he has been so successful because he's worked so hard on his team approach and he's trusted his tactical input to John Cutler, just like Coutts has done with Brad [Butterworth].

One of the startling things from last time the best performance, in terms of points per buck, you would have to say it was Stars & Stripes, they had a one boat challenge, $8 million and they missed the final of the Louis Vuitton Cup by one win. And also they had a win taken away from them because they had a rudder built in Australia.

Now you sit down and analyse why. Okay, they have an awful lot of experience, but they didn't exactly have a lot of time in the tank. They had a good designer in Jim Pugh. But what was the real difference between them and say Nippon who they beat?

Now Nippon had two boats, they supposedly had unlimited funding, they were skippered by Peter (Gilmour) who was the world's number 1 and world champion. Now why did they underperform and why did Stars & Stripes perform so well? And I think you have to say it is the strength and make up of the afterguard.

Now who was Peter's number two? You could say that Peter's number two was Chris Main who drove the tune-up boat and he's now part of the crew of GBR. Therefore it was skippered driven and thought about by Peter Gilmour.

Now if you look at Stars & Stripes, they'd had Kenny Read who'd won in J-24s more times than you can remember, who's the all-American college kid, absolutely dead staight, enthusiastic, I wouldn't call him brilliant, but he's a very good helmsman and a nice guy to sail with, backed up by Tom Whidden and all of his experience, supported by Peter Isler who himself is a great match racer and also a very good navigator and they won a race against Prada one day just simply because Peter got numbers right and found the leeward mark in the fog. And then they hired to Peter Holmberg to give them up to date knowledge of the circuit and drive the B boat.

Now it was the exactly same with Coutts, if you look at his afterguard after Schnack and Brad he also had Murray Jones and Rick Dodson. Look at Cayard's afterguard - Kostecki, Brady - so I think you've got to structure the afterguard to be 4 if not 5. Prada are doing that with Francesco, Torben, Rod and/or Gavin - it's strong.

mfs: How important is having the largest budget?

CL: I don't think money is a criteria. If you look at the Louis Vuitton finalists - money would not be the deciding factor. Whether it is morally right or wrong is a separate argument. I don't think money is an issue.

I think structural engineering is an issue. You're now at the point where the boats are on the limit. You saw AustaliaOne sink in San Diego, you saw New York break in half. You saw Stars & Stripes' transom pull off and you've just seen them sink because of their rudder breaking, you've seen rigs come down, bulbs fall off. It is just like Formula 1 - it's pushed. I mean Prada lost a rig because a couplet failed on a D2, but I can't remember anything else failing on Prada last time. AmericaOne last time I think broke 10 spinnakers because they had a problem with the spinnaker cloth.

So I think engineering and reliability - which is something which Ferrari have done with Formula One so well, whereas if you look at Montoya, he's got the last five pole positions, but I don't think he's finished a race. So engineering is very important.

I'm told the Farr boats are out on a limb, very nice but pretty different. Now if you look at Farr, who is commercially the most sucessful designer in modern boat racing and look at his performance in the America's Cup - he had carte blanche with Fay in 1992 and came up with the bowsprit and small light boats and New Zealand didn't do very well. He then had carte blanche say-so with New York and the boats were very fast but they didn't make the top six. And now you've got Oracle which I'm such are beautifully designed boats, but different boats and I suspect quite difficult boats to sail.

mfs: So has Chris law mellowed?

CL: If you are able to walk away from anything, you learn to live without it. It is like a crutch after breaking a leg. Or smoked or drinked or done anything competitively. I've walked away. If life's a game then I think I'm winning. I've just christened by first grandchild before I'm 50 - beat that...